Racial Riots In America

The Detroit race riot of 1967 was one the most destructive and violent riots of the 159 race riots that occurred during the “Long Hot Summer.” For five straight days civilians fought the police, resulting in 43 deaths, 1,189 injuries, 7,200 arrests, and over 2,500 lootings. Fifty years later there are still visible results of the riot, and the event remains a source of reflection for Detroit citizens. Asides from the building damage and violence, the riots affected various aspects of Detroit's culture, including the Motown enterprise, which was producing chart-topping music that influenced listeners across the globe. As a genre of music that was known as “The Sound of Young America” in the 1960s, studying the Motown sound before and after the riots can provide insight into Detroit citizens’ mindset.

Race riots are one of the major news items we hear about via the media when a social crisis occurs. The riots in Baltimore, however, were not so much about race, but more about economic and social class separations. The riots began as a peaceful protest amongst the citizens of Baltimore over the death of one of their own, Freddie Gray. Gray was a young, African-American, from a financially lower class area of Baltimore. Unfortunately, he died while in custody of the Baltimore Police. While this is a tragic loss, he was unlawfully detained by the police (Sarlin, 2015) during this ordeal. On the surface, the riots may appear as a cut-and-dry race provoked, once they are looked into further, that is not necessarily the case.

It should be known, beforehand, that the Kerner Commission's Report doesn’t direct the blame towards white people specifically; instead, the riots were usually caused by symbols that represent white people, including media portrayal on its content and the police. According to that report, it says, “to some Negroes, the police have come to symbolize white power, white racism and white repression” (Kerner). Ironic as it seems, even law enforcement was identified as racially intimidating figures themselves. If there was clear, concrete evidence on why the riots happened, then it should be a simple problem to solve, and the issue shouldn’t linger for the future. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case; according to the report, they claimed that “[the

Urban Blacks were also encounter with extreme racial violence in neighborhoods and at work. Different ethnic groups of new immigrants obtained power and used conflict as a strategy of diminishing urban Blacks power level. They began blocking Urban Black workers going to work throughout new immigrant’s neighborhoods. Race riots have played a crucial role in the social establishment of race, prejudice, and discrimination across the United States. Race riots uncovered fundamental tensions in societies experiencing swift technological and economic changes. In 1920, there were many race riots and other violence in many places, such as Red Summer Race Riots of 1919 and the St. Louis Riot of 1917 that took place during the segregation in the South and the Black urban migration to the North. These race riots were response to the reality that Urban Blacks were carrying on a powerful struggle against White supremacy. During race riots, Urban Blacks lived through a renewed flow of riots, massacres, and racial terrorism.

The Tulsa Race Riot is considered to be the most deadly and violent race riot of all time. The period of the riot was a time of prosperity in America, not only among whites, but the black population in Tulsa were also living an upper middle class life. The oil boom gave Tulsa a quick boost in the economy and people had money, lots of money. With oil in the ground and money everywhere, it’s hard to imagine that the National Guard was about to be called on its own civilians for the first time and only time in history.

The 1960s was a time for change. It promoted on going expectations of equality for all races. This proved to be difficult for minorities. In August of 1965, civil unrest broke out, which lead to six-day revolt called the Watts Riot. Nearly thirty years later another riot broke out which caused even greater damage and left an even greater impact in our history, the Rodney King Riots. Both of these events share similar qualities and devastating damages, however, their meanings are much harder to decipher from one another. These impactful events in our society demonstrate how much there needs to change in our society, especially when dealing with minorities.

For decades racial discrimination has been a reoccurring issue that has shaped the relationships across the country. Riots, in the case of the L.A. riots, are a form of venting and a negative form of freedom of expression. Almost immediately after the jury`s decision to seize the officers of charges that included assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force towards King, riots broke out across Los

Society and media provide people with different aspects and feelings towards racism. The media are always exploiting riots and bashings such as the Cronulla riots when they occur, over exaggerating them when they are because of a simple thing like, the differences in cultures and peoples’ beliefs. People get indignant when they hear about others within their culture or beliefs being abused or unaccepted, raising the question of why people feel a need to be on the attack or defense.

We have always had racial riots since the beginning of American history, from the Stono Rebellion to Charlottesville. Each riot has a reason behind it, for Stono, it was a tribute to the resist of African Americans to the oppressive system of slavery. During the lynching

The Columbia Race Riot was best known for being the first major confrontation following World War II. It’s a story of anger, fear, violence, and the law in a Tennessee town. The riot began with a 19 year old black navy veteran, James Stephenson and a white repairman. Their fight was over a botched radio repair. James Stephenson escaped being lynched in Columbia, Tennessee. The story had articles that were publish by Africans American and all white publishers. The newspaper articles from the publishers had many differences, but also had many similarities. The Nashville Globe by African Americans publishers and the Columbia Daily Herald by White Publishers caught my eye first. What similarities did both articles have? What differences did both articles have? After extensive research The Columbia Riot played a big role in the fight to freedom for African Americans.

A lot happened in the year of 1919. For example, there were the all of the strikes happening. Then there were the race riots. There were over 20 race riots in the year of 1919. The most serious one was the 1919 Chicago race riot. During the Chicago Race Riot an African American teenager was drowned in Lake Michigan after violating a segregation of chicago's and then was stoned by a group of white youths. The officer did not arrest the man That was witnessed for causing the African American teenager’s life. The reason it happened was simply because, if you were a different race then you didn't get to have the same privilege as the whites. I didn't think that it was right for the officer not to punish the man that had killed the teenager, but

According to wikipedia racism is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism is when someone believes that his/ her race is better than any other race and believes anyone who doesn't look like them isn't superior. Three stories that deal with racism is Freedom Riders, Spears, and Malcolm X. Some responses to the social conflict is a peaceful response, an inactive response, as well as a violent response. The most effective response to social conflict to racism is a peaceful response. It's the most effective way to social conflict because, it's a way to prove a point without any damage. Unlike a violent response to conflict and that is because violence solves nothing, it's fighting fire with fire which only makes a bigger mess.

Overtime racial tension has subdued in America. However, the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center has caused Americans to be conscious of people who are or are suspected to be of South Asian descent. This has resulted in threats, brutal beatings, and sometimes murder. In an article titled Inderjit Singh Mukker, Chicago-Area Sikh, Allegedly Attacked And Called 'Terrorist,' 'Bin Laden' it says, ”...Inderjit Singh Mukker, an American citizen and father of two, was on his way to a grocery store when a driver began taunting him. He finally pulled over to the side of the road to let him pass, but the driver instead pulled up in front of his car, reached into the car and repeatedly punched Mukker in the face. Mukker lost consciousness, lost blood

The Detroit riots occurred in the summer of 1967. The riot initially started because of race when poor African Americans got kicked out of their houses. They started living on 12th street in Detroit. The riot started there because African Americans were fed up with the way that they were being treated. Many years prior to the riot there were already racial issues. The government made it hard for African Americans to buy houses in the 1950s. During that time, white people were resisting African Americans from moving into Detroit. They were gathering outside of houses owned by African Americans until they would leave. According to Stanford, “I was blissfully unaware of the pervasive racism and resentment that was simmering in my city” (28).

The term “The Negro Problem" was used throughout the 1950 's and 60 's as a slang description of the racial tension between black and white Americans. The two essays in "The Fire Next Time" talk about the problem that the African American community faced, but from different perspectives. The author is writing to his nephew and is trying to make him understand that the situation is intolerable and not likely to change. He suggests that instead of reacting from a place of anger and hate, that the nephew should fight and strive to change the situation rather than confronting it violently. That his nephew and even the community as a whole should try to almost outsmart the whites by being the opposite of what they think of them. To prove them wrong and hopefully change the way they are looked at. He suggests a change of attitudes on both sides, to spread love and understanding instead of hate and animosity.